Tool-controlling mechanism



Feb. 24, 1931. CoJ. PRICE TOOL CONTROLLING MECHANISM Filed May 51, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet l lvwentow Rttovngs Feb. 24, 1931. c. J. PRICE TOOL CONTROLLING MECHANISM Filed May 51, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 operation of one i Patented Feb. 24, 1931 STATES PATENT GFFICE CAR-L 3'. PRICE, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO AS OF LEVELAND, 0313.0

TOGL-CQEITRQLLIl-TG MECHANISM Application file-'1 May 31, 1923.

or different work pieces.

More specifically considered, is on of the objects to reduce the time now contained in positioning the tool for cu ting or operating on the work piece ust prior to the time that the tool holding unit, of which the tool is a part, is put into operation.

In carrying out the invention the above objects are obtained hv a co ction between such that oui'ng the h tool of another unit is automaically brou to a predetermined position for the next operation. For example, if it be assumed tiat while one unit is in operation lLS tool is moving either outwardly or inwardly with reference to the axis of the work piece, this connection bet-ween the units causes the tool of another unit to he moved in t 1e pposite direction to that of the unit in operation that w he unit in operation has completed its w the tool of the next unit to be put into operation is in position for the performance of its work except for the necessary indexing of the main tool holder a I l the forward movement of the l. L .L' different types of tools or with tool holding *illiS of different kinds but in the drawings l have illustrated the invention apo a machin for cuttn ta ered sur- 1. iluctrated and .tion Serial No. 928, in the names Eerial No. 281,632.

of J. L. Bayer and John J. N. Van Hamersveld.

ln the drawingsFig. l is a side elevation of a lathe of the turret type adapted for cutting tapered surfaces, this view illustrating portions of the bed, head and turret slide, enough of these parts being shown to illustrate the application and mode of operation of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing portions only of the lathe but illustrating the parts directly involved in the present invention in different positions than illustrated in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a top plan view showing a tool holder, in this instance in the form of a turret, and two tool holder units applied thereto; Fig. 4- is a fragmentary view showing in side elevation an abutment which shifts the tools of the tool holding units and showing also a portion of one of the parts which cooperates therewith; Fi 5 isa plan view of the same; and Fig. 6 is a transverse section along the line 6-6 of Fig. 2.

Referring now to the drawings, 10 represents the bed of the lathe which is provided with a head 11 having the usual work spindle which in this instance is provided with a rotary chuck 12 for gripping work pieces, one of which is illustrated at 13. On Ithe bed 10 is a turret slide let provided with a rotary turret 15 which may be indexed manually or automatically to position difierent tool holding units for operating on work pieces, the slide 141- being movable toward and from the head and chuck 1d and being generally moved by power, the power driven shaft for this purpose being illustrated at 16. The parts so far described may be portions ofa standard lathe the details of which do not concern the present invention and need not be illustrated or described.

The parts more directly constituting the present invention are in this instance in the form of an attachment, a part of which is applied to the head 11 and other parts to the turret 15. The part which is attached to the head 11 includes a bracket 1'? which is bolted or otherwise secured to the top front portion of the head. This bracket carries an abutment 18 which normally extends substantially horizontally fron' the head toward the turret. In this instance the alnitmelit 18 is adjustably secured in holder 19 which in turn is pivoted to the bracket 1"? so that it may be swung to inoperative vertical position. The upper front portion of bracket is provided in this instance with set screw 20 which supports he abutment in horizontal or substan l horizontal position. vious bv ustin screw t of the fo 1 in.

' as circumstances may adapted to be or more clampin The portion of the at mounted on the urret l holding bra 21 v this instance to opposite lac the turret, t is faces to cured be oppowhich the brackets 2 sitely disposed. Each carries a slide 22 which in this instance a dove-tail sliding connection with the f and is adapted to be moved i l wardly at right angles to the as" o" of the work piece 13. Each 0 provided with a tool holding member do in which is secured in any suitable manner a tool 24.

As previously stated I have shown my invention applied to a machine of the general a 1- w 1 -L-M.-'-J- 1 type constituting the suogect matter or tic said prlor application or for cutting tapered surfaces on work pieces. Accordingly, as the slide 22 moved outwardly by the action of the abutment 18 on the parts to be referred to, the cutting point of the tool will move outwardly so tl at the tool will have a combined forward and outward movement and give the tapered surface to the work piece.

When the tool 24 reaches the position shown in Fi l in the forward travel of the turret, e.. when the tool reaches the -oosit-ion I J L where the cutting operation begins the forward end of the abutment 18 (which it will be understood is held in fixed position while it is functioning) comes into action by ena part which is connected to the slide so as to give the slide in thi" instance an outward movement as the forward travel of the turret continues until the tool completes the cutting of the tapered surface, in which event it is the position shown in Fig. 2. To 1) 'ing about this outward movement of the slide during the cutting operation, as ust explained, I provide, as in saic prior application referred to, slide shifting means in the form of a bell crank 25, one of these bell cranks, being pivotally mounted by means of a pin 26 on the upper end of each of the brackets 21. These bell cranks, as herein illustrated, have forked upwardly extendin through which extend pins 27 whic are adapted to engage a shouller 18a at toe forward end of the abutment 18. The bell cranks also have forked inner or lower arms vhich are adjustably connected to the slides so that the re king movement impart-ed to the bell cranks by the abutment 18 will cause a sliding movement to be imparted to the slides 22. In this instance these bell crank arms las referred to have pin connections with sleeves 28 waich rather loosely surround the upper portions of screws 2' (see 2), which screws have threaded engage ment with the slides and constitute longitudinal extensions of the slides. The screws 29 can be held in any desired position of adjustment by set screws 30. The sleeves 28 are held between abutmen'ts 31 and 32 of the screws (see Fig. and the slight lost motion or play between the sleeves and screws )revents any binding action between the bell cranks and screws as the lower arms of the bell c 'ank rock back and forth past the center position.

will be seen from the above that when ool 2%- is at the beginning of its out the in its innermost position and at c completion of the cut shown in Fig. 2 is in its outermost position. Heretofore the owcring of the slide to a position such that the tool is restoreo to cutting position for the next cutting oper tion has required time and the said prior application the abutl s a more or positive connection in. the fork d outer end of the bell crank so that when the turret slide is retracted following th completion of the cut the slide 22 moved inwardly by the action of the abutment on the hell crank, but first it was necessary for the operator to manually relieve the tool room the work piece so that the latter would not be scored by the tool while the turret slide was being retracted and the slide 22 was n1 inwardly. The retracting of the turret side had to be done very carefully by hand so as to stop the retracting movement when the tool was restored to cutting position. Ellen, it wa for the operator age the a atment from the bell crank to eiseu crank. These operations which required considerable time materially affected the production of the machine.

These disadvantages are overcome by the present invention which as heretofore stated in this in tance involves the introduction between the cutting units of a connection which serves to restore the slide and tool of one cutting unit to cutting position while the other cutting unit is operating. In the emoodiment illusti ted this connection is in the form of an ad List-able link 33 connecting the upper ends of the bell cranks. This link as herein shown comprises two forks 33a and an adjustable turnbuckle 33?) between them, this turnbuckle having right and left-hand threaded portions engaging the forks so that turning the turnbuckle the forks will be moved toward or away from each other so as to adjust the length of the link. hen the turnbuckle has been turned to give the link 83 desired length it may be locked in position by a lock nut 330 or any equivalent looking means. The two forks fit inside the forked upper ends of the bell cranks and are pivotally connected to the pins 27. As illustrated in Fig. 5, the shoulder 18a of the abutment 18 is adapted to engage the pins 2'? between the arms of the forks 33a.

It will be obvious from the above that the connection between the bell cranks of the two cutting units causes the slides 22- to be simultaneously moved in opposite directions; that is to say, during one cutting operation when the bell crank 25 of one cutting unit is being rocked by the abutment 18 so as to move he associated slide 22 outwardly, the movement transmitted through the link connection to the bell crank of the other cutting unit causes its slide to be moved inwardly. Ac cordingly, when the tool of one cutting unit completes its cut and its slide 22 is in its outermost position, as indicated in Fig. 2, the slide 22 of the other cuttin unit is in its lowermost position with its cutting tool at the right height for the beginning of the next cutting operation. liccordingly, it is only necessary to retract the turret and then index the turret to bring the other cutting unit opposite the work holder and then to advance the turret to start the next cuttin operation.

These operations can be done relatively quickly especially since the bell cranks of the cutting units are clear of the abutment as soon as the retracting movement starts, and the turret slide can be retracted and later advanced with a quick motion, since it is unne essary to engage and disenga e the cutting units and the abutment. Likewise it is unnecessary to manually relieve the tool from the work piece as heretofore.

A positive stop is meferably provided a limit for the inward movement of the slide 22 through the action of the link 33 to prevent accidental movement by vibration or while indexing the turret. This positive stop herein illustrated comprises an ustable set screw ea carried by the slide 22 and adapted to engage a. lug 35 on the bracket 21, it being understood that a similar stop is provided on each cutting unit as indicated in Fig. 3. The length of the link is so selected that the set screw st of the idle cutting unit will engage the lug just at the completion of the cut or when the forward movement of the turret slide is stopped to terminate the cutting o eration.

Thus it will be seen that the advantages heretofore enumerates are obtained by reason of the fac' that one cutting unit is restored to cutting position (except for the movements which are to be imparted to the turret) while the other cutting unit is in operation, this resulting in greatly increased production.

Vi hile I have shown one form of connecion between cutting units, which arein this instance supp rted on oppositely disposed faces of the turret permitting the use of a connection formed by a link, I wish to be understood that the connection may be differently formed and may include other mechanical elements, such as gears and levers, depending upon the relative arrangement of the cut ing units and also upon the form or construction of the cutting units as Well as the specific cut ing operations to be performed. That is to say, I consider it within the scope of my invention to connect other types or forms of cutting units for the purposes herein explained, the connection assuming the mechanical form best adapted for the form and arrangement of the cutting units.

1, therefore, aim in my claims to cover all modifications which do not involve a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a machine tool, a work holder, a plurality of units having movable tools which operate in difierent cycles, and means whereby the movement of the tool of one unit during its working operation in one cycle causes the tool of another unit to be brought to a predetermined position for operation in a following cycle.

2. In a machine tool, a plurality of tool holding units having movable tools, and means whereby the operation of one unit changes the position of the tool of another unit to restore it to its operative position for the start of its cutting operation.

3. In a machine tool, a work holder, a plurality of tool holding units having movable tools, and means including a moveme ttransmitting connection between the units to restore the tool of one unit to its operative position for the start of its cutting operation while the tool of the other unit is operating.

4. In a machine tool, a pl utting units having tools movable i outwardly, and means inclu "in be t ie opposite directions, one to its operative posi cutting operation while ih.

e. l 1 a machm tool, a work holder, a tool is carried by heotherre g a connection nd a sli le movable toward and (.3. 4 1 1 c pan or 10 a rating 111, s he s e and adapted to be sucat operation, and means incluol 'ent ,rafisrnna connection betwe .1 the r cs by which the open ot one unit causes the tool of the other to be restored to predetci led position for the next operation.

a. in a machine tool comprising a nod, a

head, a turret slide movable toward and from t e head and having an indexible turret, a

pair of tool holding units mounted on diti'erent faces the turret and provided with tools movable laterally 01 the axis of the machine, and a movement transmitting connection between +he units by which the operation of one unit restores the tool of another unit to a predetermined position for the next operation.

8. A machine tool comprising a work he r, tool holder movable toward and from each other, a pair or" tool carrying units mounted on the tool holder and comprising slides movable laterally of the axis of the machine, and means comprising a connection between the units and normally stationary abutment engageable by a part of one or" the units during said relative movement between the worn hold r and the tool holder for moving one slide outwardly and the other inwardly.

9. A machine tool comprising a work holder and a tool holder one movable toward and from the other, a pair of tool carrying units mounted on the tool holder and comprising tool supporting members movable laterally or" the axis of the machine and inter-connected, and means comprising a normally stationary abutment engageable by a part 1" one unit for moving one of said tool supporting members outwardly and the other inwardly.

10. A machine tool comprising a work holder, a tool holding slide movable toward and from the work holder, a pair of cutting units mounted on the slide a1 d adapted to be successively positioned for cutting, said units i testimony whereof, I l'iereunto affix my CARL J. PRICE. 

